A new report by Wall Street Journal claims that Foxconn’s entire Zhengzhou plant is put in a week-long lockdown by the city’s officials, starting from November 2 to contain the transmission of the virus.
The Zhengzhou facility is Foxconn’s largest iPhone assembly plant in China. It is also referred to as iPhone City with over 200,000 workers. Recently, the plant had been following closed-loop production protocols because of the COVID-19 breakout within the facility. As workers stay, eat, and sleep at the plant in a closed-loop production, it was reported that several employees escaped from the facility to avoid strict living conditions at the plant and to be with their families.
Foxconn iPhone city in Zhengzhou will be under a seven-day lockdown from Nov. 2
China follows a zero-COVID-19 policy and often imposes city-wide lockdowns to contain the spread of the virus. In March, the country faces another wave of COVID-19, and consequently, various cities went under strict lockdown including manufacturing hubs in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Kunshan, and Zhengzhou.
At the time, Foxconn’s iPhone City in Zhengzhou was allowed to operate under the closed-loop management system. However, the situation is different this time. Since the outbreak is within the facility, the city officials have put it under a seven-day lockdown. The report states:
The industrial park where Foxconn Technology Group’s iPhone assembly plant is struggling to maintain production amid a Covid-19 outbreak entered a weeklong lockdown Wednesday, after the region’s governor visited the site and called for local officials to step up oversight of the virus-control campaign.
The Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone in the central province of Henan said the lockdown would begin from noon Nov. 2 to counteract the “severe and complicated” spread of Covid in the region.
On the contrary, the manufacturer said that it has not paused production, and the production is operational under the closed-loop system. Recently, Foxconn also increased daily bonuses to retain workers and avoid a shortfall in iPhone supply.
When asked about the impact of the seven-day closure of the industrial park, a Foxconn spokesman said only that it was continuing closed-loop operations. Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.
